Weight and grip of sarissa and shield in macedonian phalanx

[Paullus Scipio]

Triarius 354 wrote:

But the question remains, how much space was then occupied by single soldier. Personally, I don't think that much less than Polybios three feet of frontage woulb be practicable. Warry's 0,5 (or rather 0,45 m) seems simply to restricting for phalangites to use their weapons.

....as the researcher for Warry's book, I can confirm the figure is taken from the Hellenistic ( ultimately) manual/s reproduced by Ascepiodotus, Aelian and Arrian. - the latter for example, says that the phalanx is unable to turn/manoevre in this formation, and it is intended to be defensive only. That it was actually used can also be confirmed from accounts of the battle of Sellasia, where one phalanx in close order was marched into another in a manoeuvre called 'epallelos' to produce 'synaspismos' at a cubit or so frontage per man - the action was fought on a ridge whose width is known, confirming the distance. Note from the photo that the phalangite fights from a side-on position, and so can fit into a cubit frontage.

By the way, our Forum rules state you should put your real name as a signature - there is a 'signature' function in your profile.

If you PM me ( send a personal message) with an actual e-mail address I can send the Connolly article to you......